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Moderated discussion

Prof. Gotthilf Hempel moderated the discussion encouraging the participants to comment on each single presentation and on cross-cutting issues.

The concern running through many questions and comments was how to use the ocean and its resources in responsible and sustainable ways. An even more radical question was, whether maximising resource use was even the right question. At a time, when Western industrialised societies waste 40 per cent of the available food, not only could all currently living humans be fed properly, but demographics are not posing as much threat as wasteful practices and social injustice do.

So, a key question was whether we would want and be able to maintain our luxurious lifestyles and continue to increase extraction of resources or whether we had other options to reduce wastage first and still live good lives.

The recent study on the status of 120 species of marine organisms in 397 stocks in European waters showed that five million tons of more fish could be sustainably produced if populations were allowed to recover to healthy sizes that can produce 90 per cent of MSY on a stable basis. That would be almost as much as current imports and would largely obliviate the need for often conflictual overseas fishing of European fleets, a boon for the climate and resources elsewhere.

Similar considerations could be brought forward in relation to deep sea mining. The scarcity of rare earth elements is largely the result of linear production processes which are always hungry for more resources and produce large quantities of costly waste posing public health hazards in Europe and in developing countries, where many discarded products end up. Redesigning production processes under the concept of the circular economy, much like the way nature operates, would create another type of research and innovation agenda. That should be possible though a huge challenge, but which looks like it would make us fit for the future.

Photos are by Cornelia E Nauen.